People use electronic communications in virtually every phase of business and personal activities. The electronic communication is conducted with telecommunication devices, e.g., computers and cellular telephones, through the Internet and associated wired and wireless communication channels and pathways. For example, electronic communication may involve sending and receiving email or text messages. While electronic communications makes the transfer of information relatively fast and easy, finding specific information of interest can still be a challenging and time-consuming process.
Consider a computer or cellular telephone user seeking information on a specific topic of interest. The user can conduct an Internet search using a web browser and search engine, e.g., Google, Bing, or Yahoo. Most search engines maintain overviews of most, if not all, publically available Internet websites on their servers. The search engine conducts a search of its servers and returns matches or partial matches to a user query. The search results are displayed as a list of websites, with potentially hundreds or thousands of hits, each with a portion of the relevant text from the website matching the user query. The search engine servers typically do not contain a complete copy of the myriad of Internet websites due to the large volume of information. The user can select one website from the list and be directed by that specific website for further information. The user must then review the content of the selected website to find the information being sought.
As most users have experienced, it may be necessary to review many different websites from the search engine listing to find the specific information of interest. Each Internet website is laid-out and organized by an administrator of the website to convey information according to purposes or business plan of the sponsoring company or organization. The website is organized for the purpose of presenting information that the sponsor is intending to convey and typically does not attempt to integrate or correlate information from other websites. The website may not be organized in a manner which is conducive or optimized to resolve the user's query. If the first website selected from the search engine list does not yield the information of interest, the user returns to the search engine listing and picks another website. The process of reviewing individual websites continues until the user is satisfied or gives up.
The logistics of finding information from mainstream Internet websites on a cellular telephone is particularly difficult due to the limited viewing area, small font and images, and manual dexterity needed to navigate what is typically formatted to be a large information space using a compact user interface. The information is difficult to see and requires substantial horizontal and vertical scrolling to comprehend the total website content. Web-based searching and information retrieval by cellular telephone is still in its infancy.